Aviva Perlmutter

We lived through those COVID-19 years in a state of flux. Things were changing all the time... The only thing that didn’t change was the necessity to change many facets of our daily life.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Behind Schedule, But On Time

By Aviva Perlmutter

Thoughts surged through my head. What to do? No point in getting to the Institute without the essential documents. But to get home, rush in, grab the folder, wait for the bus and train and then arrive late, when they may refuse to see me? I decided to take that chance.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Fallen In Battle

By Aviva Perlmutter

My eyes tear up each morning when the name of another soldier fallen in battle is announced on the 6 a.m. news.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Chance Encounters

By Aviva Perlmutter

It was a wretched situation for my father, my mother and me – an only child – who had left my job to look after my mother; we had no idea where to turn, what to do.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

All Those Who Are Hungry, Let Them Enter And Eat

By Aviva Perlmutter

Avadim hayenu – we were slaves in Egypt. I looked around the table, wondering what our new Russian friends were thinking, if they were recalling their time as Jews in the modern slavery of the oppressive, antisemitic USSR.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Mussar With A Haircut

By Aviva Perlmutter

We went into Shabbat in a state of not knowing, hoping and praying for the best. We went to shul, family came round to distract us, but I found myself surreptitiously glancing at my watch too many times, counting the hours...

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Neighborly Relations

By Aviva Perlmutter

Two sets of neighbors, joined by a wall and a hedge, but worlds apart.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Passing The Baton

By Aviva Perlmutter

I slept in fits and starts that night. Thoughts were tumbling around in my mind like clothes in a washing machine, entangled together.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

My Father’s Last Day

By Aviva Perlmutter

My next test was booked for Thursday, August 17, 1967. I couldn’t have known when I was given this date, and not one later in the month, what siyata dishmaya I had received.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah

Good Friends Are Never Apart

By Aviva Perlmutter

We were there for each other. If help was needed, there was a shoulder to lean on, both for small, transient upsets such as a difference of opinion with our mothers, and for persistent worries, too.

In Print / Lessons In Emunah